He looked at his phone. Nothing. No messages. How long had it been? He couldn’t remember, so it must be too long.

He checked again. Still nothing. He couldn’t concentrate on work. There should have been a message by now, so he sent one.

Hey. How are you? Miss you.

After hitting send, he didn’t have long to wait for a response.

Hi, honey. Don’t forget to smile.

He smiled. He couldn’t help himself. It was a connection, no matter how tenuous.

One of his coworkers stopped in the doorway. “Hey, man. I just wanted to say I’m really sorry. I can’t even imagine how you must be feeling.”

He nodded absently. A smile would be inappropriate, but it was a strain to suppress it. The text message had give him too much of a reason to smile.

“Anyway. I hope you’re doing okay. If there’s anything I can do to help…”

“Thanks. I’m doing okay.”

After his coworker left, he decided to try another text.

Just wanted to say I love you.

I love you, too.

More smiling.

“How are you? Did you check out that website I told you about?” Another coworker.

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“No problem. And again, I’m sorry about Lisa. She was a really good person.”

“Yeah.”

Alone once more, he tried one more text.

I hope you are doing okay.

Hi, honey. Don’t forget to smile.

A repeat. That was disappointing. He would have to go back to the website and enter more responses. Keeping a connection to Lisa was what mattered.